Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has been speaking about manager Pep Guardiola’s statements on a potential return to Barcelona, after a number of sources associated with the Spanish giants misconstrued the City manager’s comments to hint at a potential return to the club in which Guardiola spent four years as club captain.
“If you actually listen to [Pep] Guardiola’s statements, Soriano said via @DAZNFootball, ‘If I were assistant at Manchester City, but he’s not assistant, he is head coach at Manchester City. So, I’m sure he won’t go to Barcelona or anywhere in the next two-and-a-half years”.
The three-time Champions League winner (two as a coach, once as Barcelona captain) recently extended his contract with the reigning Premier League champions, tieing Guardiola down until 2025, potentially seeing the Spaniard remain at the Blues for nine seasons. An unprecedented amount of time for Guardiola considering his previous longest stay at a club was four seasons (Barcelona 2008-12). Manchester City are seemingly entering a massive rebuild this summer, with key senior members such as Bernardo Silva, Kyle Walker, Aymeric Laporte, Joao Cancelo and Ilkay Gundogan all linked with moves away from the club this coming transfer window.
City are best poised to emerge from this rebuild a successful institution if they have Guardiola at the helm, the Spaniard still has a burning desire to deliver trophies to the Etihad and judging by his seething comments after the 4-2 Tottenham victory, the City manager still has the winning mentality that only so many possess in the footballing world.
Soriano and other executives need to make sure they keep on showing the City boss the faith and commitment he deserves, as there is no one more equipped to deliver success than the Catalonian genius